Xe-124 an isotope of xenon has the highest half-life of 1.8 × 1022 yrs. Estimate the time it would take for a sample of Xe-124 to reach 10% of its current level.
Xe-124 an isotope of xenon has the highest half-life of 1.8 × 1022 yrs. Estimate the time it would take for a sample of Xe-124 to reach 10% of its current level.
Related questions
Question
Transcribed Image Text:Xe-124 an isotope of xenon has the highest half-life of 1.8 × 1022 yrs. Estimate the time
it would take for a sample of Xe-124 to reach 10% of its current level.
Expert Solution
Concept and Principle:
- When a nucleus becomes unstable it will undergo radioactive decay to attain a stable configuration. They do so by emitting radiation.
- The rate of radioactive decay is called activity and the half-life is the time it takes for the activity to reduce by half in a radioactive sample.
- Radioactive decay is exponential in nature and can be written as,
Here N0 is the original number of radioactive nuclei present, t is the time, and t1/2 is the half-life of the radioactive sample. This is known as the exponential law of radioactive decay.
Step by step
Solved in 3 steps
